Scottish Castle to become “eighth wonder of the world”

A SCOTTISH castle which inspired the Disney hit “Brave” is close to being crowned the “eighth wonder of the world” – for the second time.

Dunnottar Castle, near Stonehaven in Kincardineshire, is now in the top ten of a global competition which aims to crown a destination as the “eighth wonder of the world”.

Scots have previously deemed it to be a wonder in a Visit Scotland poll in May this year, collecting almost 2000 votes.

The Disney inspiring castle

Following on from its success, Dunnottar is now in the top ten of 350 entires in a global VirtualTourist.com competition.

Disney Pixar animators were inspired by the site’s iconic beauty and based their main character’s home on the appearance of the castle in the 2012 hit “Brave”. Dunnottar now faces several famous sites across the world including Golden Gateway Bridge in San Francisco, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and even Scotland’s own Hadrian’s Wall.

But campaign supporters are hopeful that they can bring the title to Scotland.

Dunnottar Castle’s custodian, Wendy Alexander said: “We were delighted to learn our placing so far in VirtualTourist’s competition and are overwhelmed by the support we have received locally, from the rest of Scotland and from everyone overseas.”

She added: “We would like to thank everyone who has voted for Dunnottar so far and hope that they will continue to get behind the castle and support us.”

“Bringing the title to Scotland would not only be great for the North-east but for Scotland as a whole.”

Dunnottar was recently awarded a certificate of excellence from the review site TripAdvisor – which placed it in the top performing 10% of all businesses worldwide.

The award is given to businesses that get consistently high ratings from travellers.

Scottish beauty spots

VisitScotland regional director, Shona Anderson, said: “Dunnottar Castle is one of Scotland’s most remarkable landmarks and it is fantastic to see it doing so well among some extremely strong competition from around the world.”

She continued: “In the Year of Natural Scotland, it would be wonderful to see this Scottish icon crowned as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ and I encourage people go to www.virtualtourist.com/8thwonder to cast their vote.”

The caste is a ruined medieval fortress located on a rocky headland in the north-east of Scotland.

The majority of its buildings date back to the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries but experts believe the site may have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages.

It plays a prominent role in the history of Scotland featuring in Jacobite risings and was even used to hide the Scottish crown jewels from Oliver Cromwell’s invading army in the 17th century.

Dunnottar was restored in the 20th century and is now open to members of the public.

In the initial VisitScotland poll it beat off other Scottish beauty spots including the Cuillin on the Isle of Skye and the Callanish Stones on Lewis.

The Oscar award winning Disney film “Brave” based its main character’s home on the building.

“Brave” went on to smash box offices across the world, taking more than $66 million in the US alone on its opening weekend in 2012.